song

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /sɒŋ/, US /sɑːŋ/, /sɔːŋ/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English song (also sang), inherited from Old English sang (“voice, vocal music, song, poem”),^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *sangwaz,^[3][5] formed from the root of the Germanic verb that gave sing.^[3][5][6] Its cognates include Old Saxon sang, Old High German sang, German Gesang, Dutch zang and Old Norse sǫngr,^[3][2][5] and Gothic has saggws.^[2][5] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *songʷʰ-o- (“singing, song”), from *sengʷʰ- (“to sing, make an incantation”).^[2][7] Oxford's Word Origins notes that sing and song come from the same ancient root.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The act or art of singing, vocal music: Old English sang, about 888;^[9] Barnhart's first example is from about 725, in Beowulf.^[3] A composition for singing is recorded from about 897.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The musical call of certain birds is a song from late Old English, about 1000.^[9][2] In literature the word is often used loosely for a poem meant to stir the emotions, of the kind traditionally sung to the lyre.^[2] The Old Testament Song of Solomon is named from 1382.^[9] For a song, “for very little”, is from the late 16th century,^[8] found in Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well;^[2] Word Origins suggests it may come from the sale of ballad sheets at fairs.^[8] A song became a fuss or outcry in 1843,^[9] and song and dance, a contrived story or fuss, is American English from 1895.^[3] Songbird is from 1774, in Goldsmith's Natural History.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English sang (Beowulf).^[3]
• c. 888 – the art of singing.^[9]
• c. 897 – a composition for singing.^[9]
• c. 1000 – the song of birds.^[9][2]
• 1382 – the Song of Solomon.^[9]
• late 16th century – for a song.^[8]
• 1774 – songbird.^[3]
• 1843 – a fuss, an outcry.^[9]
• 1895 – song and dance.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A short composition written or adapted for singing.
2. The act or art of singing.
3. The characteristic sounds of a bird or insect.
4. Poetry or verse; a lyric poem or ballad.
5. (for a song) A very small sum.

Word family

• songlike
• part-song
• birdsong
• singsong
• songwriter
• evensong
• plainsong
• songbird

Related words

• sing
• singer
• songster
• songbook

Usage notes

A separate word Song names a Chinese dynasty of the 10th to 13th centuries, from Chinese sòng, recorded in English from the late 17th century.^[4][10]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ a b c d Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)